Toms River residents bash plan for Route 9 apartments, stores

Roberts Mobile Home Park residents were once surrounded by woodlands but now find themselves surrounded by construction equipment as approximately 1,400 news housing units are added to their area. STAFF PHOTO BY PETER ACKERMAN
Peter Ackerman

A photo of a rendering of a retail building with apartments on the second and third floors at Cox Cro Crossings, a development proposed for Route 9 and Cox Cro Road in Toms River.(Photo11: Jean Mikle)

TOMS RIVER - Details of a plan to build 40 apartments, office space and stores on Route 9 have been greeted with skepticism by both residents and planning board members.

The project — called Cox Cro Crossings — is seeking several variances, including one for lot size: Toms River ordinances require 20 acres for a planned unit development, and the site is only 10.28 acres.

The planning board has been considering the application for nearly a year. No decision was made at a meeting Wednesday. The next public hearing on the project will be at 6 p.m. July 18.

Planned unit developments (PUDs) are intended to include a mix of uses on one site, including residential and commercial buildings.

J. Creigh Rahenkamp, a planner hired by the project's developer, Nobility Crest, said the plan was designed to merge two uses in one 344-foot-long building. Retail shops will be on the first floor, and apartments on the second and third floors, he said.

Rahenkamp said the project would provide a unique type of development that doesn't currently exist in Toms River.

"We're looking to serve people who want to live in a building with retail on the first floor," Rahenkamp said. "We think 10 acres meets the needs of the future residents."

"You're trying to make us feel good about you using 10 acres when you're supposed to have 20 acres," said Planning Board member Robert Stone, who chaired the board during the public hearing on Cox Cro Crossings.

Assistant Township Planner Erika Stahl pointed out that the property is "an undersized lot for a PUD."

A landscape plan for Cox Cro Crossings, a development proposed for Route 9 and Cox Cro Road in Toms River.(Photo11: Jean Mikle)

Also on the site will be a one-story, 10,000-square-foot medical office building and a two-story office building.

A previous plan to put a gas station and convenience store on the property was scrapped by the developer.

Board members and nearby residents also expressed concern about the size of the mixed-use building, which needs a variance because it is 344-feet long, far larger than the 175-foot size limit for the property.

"Why can't you make the application smaller?" asked Dorine Sirota, of Owen Court.

"We're requesting a variance," said Richard Stanzione, the Toms River lawyer representing the developer. "This is the way we're presenting the application."

Several residents who attended Wednesday's hearing questioned the developer's traffic engineer about the impact Cox Cro Crossings will have on the intersection of Route 9 and Cox Cro Road.

Residents expressed disbelief when Scott Kennel, the applicant's traffic engineer, said his analysis indicated that traffic at the intersection of Route 9 and Cox Cro Road would not be negatively impacted by construction of the project.